1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for controlling the positions of members provided on a car. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for setting under control the positions of members provided on a car, for example, a driver's seat, steering wheel, mirrors, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
Position control apparatuses have heretofore been known wherein the positions of members provided on a car, for example, a driver's seat, steering wheel, mirrors, etc., are controlled by driving the associated motors.
One type of the known position control apparatuses employs a microcomputer for position control, as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication (KOKAI) Nos. 58-75217 (1983) and 58-157962 (1983).
Incidentally, recent cars are equipped with a large number of mechanisms the positions of which are to be controlled, for example, a slide mechanism for positioning a seat, a front vertical mechanism for adjusting the height of the front part of the seat, a rear vertical mechanism for adjusting the height of the rear part of the seat, a reclining mechanism for adjusting the degree of inclination of the seat back, a head rest mechanism for adjusting the height of the head rest, a steering column tilt mechanism for adjusting the degree of inclination of the steering wheel, and various kinds of mirrors.
These mechanisms can be set to proper positions by driving the associated motors under the control of a microcomputer.
Such a position control apparatus suffers, however, from the following problems. Since a large number of position control mechanisms provided on the car are controlled by a single microcomputer, the speed of processing executed to activate each position control mechanism is low and a relatively long time is therefore required to effect position adjustment.
In this conventional position control apparatus, a plurality of position control mechanisms which are provided on the car apart from each other are connected to the microcomputer through signal lines or the like and a relatively long time is therefore needed to control each position control mechanism from the microcomputer, which constitutes a cause of delay in effecting position control.
To solve these problems, it has heretofore been common practice to use a plurality of microcomputers for controlling respective position control blocks, thereby reducing the number of jobs (tasks) assigned to each individual microcomputer, and thus enabling position control to be effected at high speed.
However, such a conventional practice needs to enable the positions of the seat, the steering wheel, the mirrors, etc. to be properly changed in accordance with the bodily shape and seated position which are peculiar to each individual driver.
In the prior art, therefore, for each position control mechanism proper positions which are conformable to a plurality of different driver's bodily shapes, for example, are previously set and stored in a memory incorporated in each microcomputer, and the positions of the seat, steering wheel, mirrors, etc. are adjusted to respective proper positions on the basis of the proper positions set for each position control mechanism and information concerning, for example, a specific driver's bodily shape based on the bodily shape of each individual driver.
In this conventional position control apparatus, a seat position control block, steering wheel position control block and mirror position control block can be controlled by ON/OFF operation of switches which are used to instruct these blocks to reproduce respective positions stored in the memories.
In the above-described position control apparatus, however, the position control blocks of position control mechanisms operate asynchronously and the read timings of the position control blocks are different from each other.
Accordingly, the prior art apparatus involves the problem that, particularly when the driver keeps the position control switch turned on for a relatively short period of time, even if some position control blocks read the on-state of the position control switch, other position control blocks may be unable to read it.
The position control apparatus has therefore fears that, although the driver has properly effected the position control of the seat by actuating the position control switch after getting into the car, it may be impossible to properly adjust the position of the mirrors, for example, and that the driver may become aware that the positions of the mirrors are improper after starting the car, considering the position adjustment to have been all completed.
The above-described position control apparatus has a plurality of independent microcomputers to control a large number of position control blocks on the basis of a single position adjustment instruction given, for example, by a switch operation, and therefore suffers from the problems that the position control is complicated and the cost is increased.